Looks like nothing is in stock anyway. Most of the big sets that this would pay off on are sold out. Best deal would have been pairing Diagon Alley with Fire Brigade and Grand Emporium but all three are gone.

I notice that TRU has implemented yet another obstacle to actually coming away from this "sale" with a good deal: quantity restrictions on multiple items of the same type. I tried to put two 5771 Hillside Houses in my cart and got the following message:

Some people may see dissatisfaction with this kind of thing as an undue sense of entitlement. I see TRU's sale practices as consistently deceptive and misleading (i.e. mark-ups, sudden lack of product availability, sale eligibility inconsistencies between online and brick-and-mortar purchases, increasingly stringent restrictions). Every once in a while, you can score a decent deal from a TRU sale, but you usually have to work pretty hard to get it and the stars have to align just so.

so you're saying they enforce this policy in-store as well? what's the point of offering buy 2, get 1 free if you can't, uhhh, buy 2 and get 1 free? unless that is spelled out on the store shelves, they don't have a leg to stand on. i think a reasonable employee or manager would allow the sale. i've had things like this cleared up on previous occasions -- of course, a tru credit card in hand always helps.

deco_droid wrote:so you're saying they enforce this policy in-store as well? what's the point of offering buy 2, get 1 free if you can't, uhhh, buy 2 and get 1 free? unless that is spelled out on the store shelves, they don't have a leg to stand on. i think a reasonable employee or manager would allow the sale. i've had things like this cleared up on previous occasions -- of course, a tru credit card in hand always helps.

I didn't have any problems in-store. I got 3 copies of the Mill Village Raid (Kingdoms) set in one transaction and 1 Forbidden Forest (HP), 1 Garmadon spinner, 1 Sensei Wu spinner, and 3 Blacksmith Attacks in another transaction so at least in store (and at least on items $70 and under) there was no limitation. TRU online has been getting worse as time goes on though.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. -The Sith CodeBricklink Store

I went in with two fellow LUG members to try and make good use of this deal. Almost everything we looked at was marked up. We finally decided to each get a Spongebob Heroes of the Deep set. Sticker said $14.99. We took it up to the register, and did the deal. One of the guys even had a $5 rewards card. Total came to about $35. Upon closer inspection, we found that the price had been raised to $17.99. Fortunately the manager brought the price down for us after we showed her the sticker. I see now that the online price is also $17.99, which is insane for a 95-piece set.

I did the same thing. I bought the two spongebob sets which were priced on the shelf at 19.99 and 14.99. When I checked out they rang up at 24.99 and 17.99. I, too, was able to get the manager to reduce them to the displayed price but what a scam.

You just have to be very smart with these TRU offers. And buying in the stores almost always works out better than online, as you can argue things with a real human being.

I used this B2G1F offer. But I sit in the store with my iPad checking each item against the MSRP. I only ever buy items from TRU that are priced at MSRP for a start. Otherwise any discount you apply is just removing the mark-up and you might as well just order it from Amazon at that point.

With this B2G1F I found 3 sets with no mark-up, then I applied the $5 coupon I had earned, plus TRU had mailed me a $10 off $75 coupon too, so I applied that one as well. And then one of the sets I picked allowed me to get the free Ninjago Shrine as well.

So.. in summary: bought 3 sets at retail price. 1 set totally free. $15 off the remaining two. And a free $10 Shrine.

Still not as good as Borders where I was buying Lego at about 80% off on a routine basis.

What you call "very smart" I call persistent bordering on the obsessive. I'm not going to go to great lengths just to ensure that I can come out of a "sale" knowing that I'm at least spending about what I would at MSRP. I don't have that kind of time or patience...not for what they're offering. I'll just wait and/or buy from another retailer.

What you call "very smart" I call persistent bordering on the obsessive. I'm not going to go to great lengths just to ensure that I can come out of a "sale" knowing that I'm at least spending about what I would at MSRP. I don't have that kind of time or patience...not for what they're offering. I'll just wait and/or buy from another retailer.

Knowing retail price is going to great lengths? Everything I bought I got for retail, then took off for the sale meaning it was 33% less (before tax) per set because I grouped them by price (also not a hassle). I even threw in some coupons that took care of the tax. I didn't have to obsess over anything. I went to the store in the middle of the week and knew what I wanted and knew they charged retail for it. I know that their online operation has become an increasing pain to work with, but in store it is not. I love that everytime one of these sales comes up where it is quite clearly possible to save money someone complains and acts like it's some huge hassle. We should all have a pretty good idea what their policies are by now so if it's been a problem before why keep trying and keep venting? Just avoid it and wait for these "other retailers" to have great sales. It leaves more for everyone else.

As for "what they are offering", it's a larger selection than WalMart, KMart, or Target with a sale that only one of those three ever has. That one is KMart, the one with the smallest selection and the smallest retail presence. Wal Mart and Target have occasional sales, but not like this. Borders is gone. Barnes and Noble requires coupons that don't exclude LEGO (talk about a hassle). Who does that leave? LEGO Brand stores I suppose. Good luck on sales there. Of course there is Amazon with it's occasional wacky pricing. Hope you've got something that alerts you and internet access at all times if you are banking on that. This is one of the best, if not the best, actual sale on LEGO that happens. Yes, clearance can beat these prices, but clearance is a long shot and unpredicatable. Show me a better sale.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. -The Sith CodeBricklink Store

Yeah it probably does sound that way and I don't mean it to. I've got nothing against Draykov or anyone else who feels like they are getting burned by these sales or that they aren't worthwhile. I actually agree with most of his first post. I guess I just get tired of every time TRU has a sale the same complaints get marched out (and I agree that some of them are valid, but stating them here isn't going to change anything). Then someone tries to explain that it's a worthwhile sale and counter arguments are thrown about that make it sound like some monumental undertaking to make the sale worthwhile. It remind me a lot of the Wizards of the Coast boards where people complained endlessly about the miniatures games, despite the company going out of it's way to try to work with the customers, to the point that someone finally suggested that if the company would put free money in boxes someone would complain about how it was folded. That's the vibe I get from these threads. It's nothing personal against Draykov (or anyone else) and I apologize if it came off that way.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. -The Sith CodeBricklink Store

If it wasn't clear, my attempt to take advantage of the BOGO was online only...but I stand by what I've already said, with no expectation that TRU will change their practices due to anything I say here or elsewhere. If you got a deal you were happy with, more power to you. I couldn't get what I wanted the way I wanted, so I'm content to shop elsewhere to do so.

Draykov wrote:If it wasn't clear, my attempt to take advantage of the BOGO was online only...but I stand by what I've already said, with no expectation that TRU will change their practices due to anything I say here or elsewhere. If you got a deal you were happy with, more power to you. I couldn't get what I wanted the way I wanted, so I'm content to shop elsewhere to do so.

I'm in agreement that an online attempt at taking advantages of these sales will likely lead to headaches and that they have set certain policies into place that make me question trying to use their online store in the future.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. -The Sith CodeBricklink Store

Draykov wrote:If it wasn't clear, my attempt to take advantage of the BOGO was online only...but I stand by what I've already said, with no expectation that TRU will change their practices due to anything I say here or elsewhere. If you got a deal you were happy with, more power to you. I couldn't get what I wanted the way I wanted, so I'm content to shop elsewhere to do so.

I'm in agreement that an online attempt at taking advantages of these sales will likely lead to headaches and that they have set certain policies into place that make me question trying to use their online store in the future.

Yeah - like I said in my post, these offers are lame online as you can't argue them. Go to the stores. You pay the same sales tax at TRU if you use the stores or online, so if you have a store nearby, then go.

It's not a huge hassle to get the coupons together. I usually spend about 5-10 mins figuring out which TRU sets are at retail price. It is worth it, IMO.

When I went last time, I think the 3 sets I bought were $35 each. I got one of them totally free (B2G1F), and I got $15 off the other 2, plus I got a $10 Shrine thing free. I would say that is a good deal.

With Borders I had a much better "scam" going on. I would get their 40-50% coupons, add on my extra 10% Borders Reward card to get to 50-60% off. Then I would use the Borders Bucks I had earned. I would also buy up Borders Bucks from various sellers for about 25% of their value. I would also buy Borders Gift Cards from people at about 70% of retail. With all of that, I'd often buy up Lego at about 20% of retail price. Sometimes as low as 5% of retail price. With the sheer amount of Borders Bucks I had I would often go into the store, grab $100 of stuff and walk out without even paying a cent. My wife used to look at me like I was a wizard. It was just like on that Extreme Couponing TV show.

And lets not forget the $25 gift card for $20 special that Borders was doing last year. Between those and the coupons, I was able to get the HP sets pretty cheaply. Of course the sales were not as nice after they noticed what was going on and instituted TRU pricing on all the LEGO.

the point is if you're patient you can get the best deals at tru (and amazon for that matter) -- but if you have to have a set right when it comes out (impatient types), then yah, pay full price at target or walmart because it will be cheaper there by a few bucks. although i have been lucky at some target and walmart clearance sales, in general i save more money over the years buying from tru and amazon.